The chief financial officer, Pierre Andr Terisse, said Danone planned to respond to declining consumption in southern Europe with price cuts, but that it was too early to provide details. He said demand in Asia, the Americas, Russia and the Middle East remained robust.

Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets in Zurich, told Bloomberg: "While I am not surprised about the

deterioration in southern Europe and assume Spain, Italy and Greece combined are around 10 per cent of its sales, I am surprised that it talks about higher commodity costs."